disa flask

[Andrew]

Originally Posted by naoki

Andrew, is there a way to prevent flowering? Last year, my D. uniflora flowered, but it didn't make a new tuber. From reading a bit, higher fertilization rate could cause this suicidal flowering. So I reduced fertilization quite a bit this year. How do you fertilize yours? I started to do 30ppm N once a month, but I think the growth may be slower. So I'm considering 5-10ppmN every day.

The easiest way to stop a Disa flowering is to cut the spike off as it starts to grow. I use a low phosphate fertiliser although truth be told I use this more out of habit. A more balanced fertiliser is probably just as good. I fertilise via the water trays adding enough fertilizer to bring the TDS up to around 100-150 ppm (my water is about 30ppm).

[naoki]

Thank you, Andrew. I think that it is the range which a Disa expert, Walter Orchard, recommend in his article, too. I think he uses hydroponic set-up, and your plants are similarly exposed to TDS of 100-150ppm all the time through the water tray. I'm going to try something similar.

According to one scientific study, Disa uniflora relatives seem to prefer some NH4 (over pure NO3) as the nitrogen source. This study also suggested continuous TDS around 125-200ppm was better than a higher concentration fertilization (the study didn't have any lower fertilization scheme). So your success with Disa backs up their studies! Very cool, thank you for sharing your experience! Philip and I talked about this study in another thread here.